What is Body Positivity really about?

I’m all about feeling fierce and looking cute as hell. You only get one life so you may as well make it an awesome one and learn to love you, and that’s where the Body Positive thing comes in.

So, lately I’ve noticed that a lot of people are talking about being “Body Positive” and the Body Positivity movement is gaining a lot of traction, which I think is totally awesome and about time!! But, what does it really mean? And why are some people putting rules around it and turning Body Positive into a negative? Are we body positive, are you?

It’s a hard question to answer, because it means something different to everyone. Some Body Positive bloggers and campaigners are saying that if you are on the bigger side and if you want to lose any weight, or if you have any weight-loss surgery, or if you exercise, that you’re not being Body Positive, and seem to believe that you should stay exactly the same all the time forever.

Some of them are saying that if you’re skinny that you aren’t Body Positive, and some say that fat people and skinny people just can’t be friends and are on opposing sides. And then there’s some bloggers and campaigners who put a whole heap of rules around what can and can’t be considered Body Positive, and who’s allowed or not allowed to say they are BoPo (body positive for short!).

It gets even more confusing - there’s also some who say that if you are this body type or that size you can’t possibly be Body Positive, and some say that this Plus Size Model is too slim or too perfectly-shaped, or they say that woman is the wrong kind of fat, or this woman is the acceptable kind of fat and only certain types can be Body Positive.

There’s so much judgement swirling around it makes my head spin and makes me want to put on my Bitch Pleasetop!

For us, being body positive is about feeling positive about your own body. That’s it, as simple as that. For Zest Lifewear, when we say Body Positive, that’s what we're talking about and that’s what it means to us.

Regardless of whether your body is big or small, fat or skinny, missing parts or has extra parts, the right or wrong kind of fat, the right or wrong kind of skinny, perfectly proportioned or differently proportioned, or changing in any way for any reason, it doesn’t matter. It’s still your body, it’s the only one you’ll ever get and its where you live.

You have the right to feel positive about your body however you want to!

Let’s face the facts: you can’t get a body transplant, you can’t get out of your body alive, you can’t control what body you are born into, and it’s the place where you will spend your whole entire life. Being body positive should be about freedom to feel good about your body no matter what kind of body it is. It should mean no judgement is placed on your body for how it looks, and you don’t judge other people’s bodies either.

Being body positive (for us) means not putting others down or saying they can’t join the body positive club because they exercise, or they’re not body positive because they are trying to lose a few kilos, or they eat junk food so they can’t be body positive.

It’s not our place to criticise others or tell them what they can & can’t do with their own body and what they can & can’t say about their body.

If someone is trying to learn to love themselves - that is a pretty awesome thing, it takes strength and bravery and persistence to try and learn to love yourself. There’s so many people and media telling us not to, that we need all the help we can get!! We need to help eachother to do that.

So, if that person’s way of loving themselves is to lose weight to a healthy level, that’s fine, they can still be body positive and are welcome in the club. If that person’s way of loving themselves is to NOT try to lose weight anymore and to accept their body how it is, that’s fine too! If they want to eat chicken nuggets while running on a treadmill dressed in a pumpkin costume, if that makes them happy then that is totally fine!!

If that person’s body is not your ideal, or if they don’t do things the way you would do it, that’s ok – it doesn’t need to be your way, because it’s not your body. We only need to be focussed on our own body.

I think that for someone to be Body Positive, all they need to do is to try to be positive about their own body, in whatever way feels right to them. It doesn’t matter what kind of body it is or isn’t.